Ingredients
For Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup Golden Blossom® Honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces regular cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup Golden Blossom® honey
3 to 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, plus more as needed
food coloring (optional)
Honey Tips
How Honey is Made
To make honey, bees drop the collected nectar into the honeycomb and then evaporate it by fanning their wings.
Directions
In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together sugar, honey, vegetable oil, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just combined and no dry ingredients or large lumps remain (a few lumps are ok, the batter won’t be completely smooth).
Spoon a scant 1/4 cup of batter into each cup, taking care not to overfill. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until tops are lightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place pan on a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes, then remove cupcakes from tin and allow to cool completely.
To prepare frosting, cream butter and cream cheese in electric mixer for 1-2 minutes until smooth and fluffy. Beat in honey. Slowly add 3 cups of confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Mix in food coloring if desired. Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.
Note that if your kitchen is particularly warm, this frosting may be too soft to pipe, in which case you can add more powdered sugar if necessary to achieve a pipeable consistency. Refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes to firm it up a bit. You can also replace 1/4 cup of the butter with unflavored vegetable shortening to stabilize it even further.